Wednesday July 18th

[mcgowantk]

Wednesday is looking pretty good. While NW, it is looking like a good Sac day. I have some commitments but perhaps could be talked into a career limiting move by a driver!

I wanted to make sure no one missed the day unintentionally.

Tom McGowan

[krryerson]

Tom,
I am off on Wednesday and SAC sounds good to me too. Blue Sky might be an option also, going XC.
What ever works, would be fine for me.
I will text or give you a call.
Knut

[krryerson]

Looks like it will be SAC tomorrow and will keep you guys posted. Hoping for great XC conditions.
Right now, it looks like we'll be 2-4 pilots.
Knut

[mcgowantk]

It is looking promising but it would be great to find a driver.

Tom McGowan

[Roger]

see ya there

[krryerson]

Tom and I will be at SAC around 11:00 a.m.
My aitribune will be running.
Knut

[krryerson]

Roger that.
Knut

[krryerson]

airtribune.com/7093

[silverwings]

I think we missed a possibly good flying day at Woodstock or the Pulpit (though a little stronger) today. According to Holfuy's the direction and velocity was good and it did not go Northerly like predicted.

[krryerson]

Arrived 12:30 p.m at SAC. Karen and Joe helped us all launch, starting with Tom first, Roger and me next.
Waited 45 minutes in mellow conditions.
Ended up with an extended sleed.
Though, Tom and Roger had great flights, topping out 6.5 k, crusing out in the valley and beyond for hours.
Karen launched next, having an extended sleed.
Right now we are back on launch, helping Joe launching.
More to come later.
Knut

[krryerson]

It is now 7:00 p.m. and Joe is stil soaring after an hour in magic lift. High and above.
Knut

[markc]

And hopefully he's still up right now, an hour later With lots of daylight still left

[krryerson]

Joe landed right after 7:00 p.m.
Great day, but street clouds just did not line up for a long XC. Understand this is why Tom Mc and Roger stayed local. Still think it was worth going to SAC, but much lighter then forecast predicted.
Goal was to try to get to the Eastern shore. I was going to try to follow, but with 400 feet and a bad cycle and more, you can't do many mistakes before you have to land.
Pictures up for one week!
Knut

[krryerson]

If you have never been at SAC, here is a short video of the place, if interested.
Note! Did land in the main LZ, which is a hill.
Knut

https://youtu.be/IF4Z_vgrNsc

[krryerson]

From Karen:
Wed. July 18 Sac Day

The call looked good, abate the day started out with winds light and from the NE. Joe took half a day off and went up to weed whip the bump and a bit of swoop room. Tom McGowan and Knut Reyerson drove a distance and arrived around 12:30 hoping for some cross country, familiarized themselves with the landing fields then proceeded to set up. Roger Irby then showed after having mowed the landing field @littlegap and of course Joe and I. The Sac was still showing some NE and light for awhile so we watched it. The call was for NNW. Tom decided to give it a try around two...he scratched hard and it paid off with hours of flight from cloud base several times (6500) to flying across the valley. Knut had a long wait on launch with cycles too light, then too strong and cross, then decided to back off for a break. As it sometimes happens, Roger took up the launch and found a cycle right away. He caught a thermal instantly in front of launch an d got up to fly high for hours. It was around four when Knut got back up to launch and caught a light thermal right in front of launch...soared above a little while searched down the ridge but nothing to hang in there with, then sunk out. I did the same as Knut, having fun figuring out my new Falcon and I really felt dialed into it ( having more patience and swimming in light lift) but the lift petered out for me too. Joe and Knut came down to get me and we proceeded to throw Joe off. Still showing a bit of NE around six o'clock, Joe took his time and waited patiently for a good cycle. He launched right into a thermal and was rewarded with an hour or so flight to a thousand above in magic conditions. He reported no NE once in the air above the ridge. It was an interesting day to try and figure out Tom mentioned. All of us had great launches and good landings. With sunburnt faces, smiles all around, catching up with old friends and getting to know new ones our day was one dreams are made of. I would love it if those who flew would give their details but this report was just so you would get a small idea of our day here at the Sac yesterday. It was a REAL GOOD ONE.
Karen.

[mcgowantk]

Since Karen asked for some details - and I don't have access to the Hyner list server just yet - it was a great day. I was able to get up after launching around 2:00 or so. It took a few minutes to get above the ridge but afterwards it was pretty easy to stay up. There were some nice clouds streets lined up to the SE (the best direction) but I had some trouble getting high enough to fly to them. I eventually gave up going over the back and decided to have fun flying in the thermal conditions. While the clouds looked great, I didn't really find much strong lift. I think I had over 400' up on the average only once. The best climbs I had were closer to 300' up. Still, a nice day with very little wind, just lots of light thermals. My max altitude was around 6500 msl. I didn't see the local eagles until after I landed but there were plenty of birds in the air too. The Sac is certainly a favorite place to fly, especially as I get to visit Joe and Karen. As Karen and Knut said earlier, the other pilots all got to soar, at least for a while.

Thanks to Joe for mowing the launch ramp while I set up and to both him and Karen for spending so much time helping the rest of us launch.

Tom McGowan